What’s in Your Hot Dog? – Advertising Done Right

Commercial viewing isn’t something I normally indulge in, mostly because they tend to be super lame; they’re extremely staged and almost always very obvious about it. There are very few commercials that are decent – The ones that play during the super bowl and the ones that have been banned completely. And even if a good commercial does make its way onto television, chances are I’ll probably miss it because watching television is too not something I normally indulge in.

So basically unless someone shoves my face into an already established excellence of the commercial world, or I’m on a mission to find something specific via YouTube, I’m very detached from that whole concept. Having said that, thanks to my good friend I stumbled upon something amazing the other day. This Russian bodybuilder, Yevgeni Mishin is featured in several Applegate videos that focus on the shitty meat products that we consume on a regular basis. If you haven’t seen it already, and you’re in search of serious giggles I strongly suggest that you look up “What’s in your hot dog?”. Their advertising technique lies within bashing others versus praising themselves which is fantastic because oddly enough we respond better to mockery and ridicule rather than commendation and praise.

Let’s take a look at a general waffle commercial for example. Some professional looking dude in a lab coat appears on the screen and starts saying things like “Try these new waffles; they’re much healthier and better tasting than the ones you currently buy” – are you automatically convinced? Of course not, you feel the need to do some research. What makes your product better? How do you know which waffles I buy anyways? You’re skeptical, justifiably so – perhaps they’re hiding an ulterior motive behind all that class. Now let’s take a look at a different scenario – An oversized waffle with bloodshot eyeballs and a mustache busts through the wall; it’s covered in margarine, dripping fat, screaming and yelling about how superior it is to all the other products in the world, practically foaming at the mouth. A featured momma bear hides her kids behind a well-trained soccer mom arm, and advises the giant maniac to get the hell out of her kitchen because she would much rather stick to her existing, very healthy, great tasting waffles. And then follows it up with casually sneaking in the brand of the waffles that she herself uses. Watching THAT commercial will make you want to buy her waffles and the funny thing is that denying a shitty product while slightly shifting focus to her existing product is all she’s done to make you want to do so – it’s amazing.

This particular commercial isn’t about waffles however; it’s about meat. And choosing a huge professional bodybuilder with a thick Russian accent to play said “meat” and on top of that dressing him up in a skimpy cow’s skin outfit, was about the smartest thing they could have done for this commercial. You have this blue eyed giant with steroid filled needles practically still in his arm that’s playing word games with you and dropping dirty innuendos. Meanwhile all the ladies in the supermarket and elsewhere get freaked out and resort back to their original product – Applegate. It doesn’t get better than this.

A close second is the “I lift things up I put them down” Planet Fitness commercial, which features a similar giant bodybuilder, but German. Their whole thing is “We’re fat people friendly here and we don’t want beefcakes like you hogging up all the machines and making others feel bad” so they guide him out through an exit as he keeps repeating “I lift things up I put them down” like a retard, and close the door behind him. It’s a little mean – beefcakes have feelings too. But it’s still kinda funny. Perhaps if you stick an enormous guy with a strong accent into a commercial regardless of its premise, you’ve got yourself a win/win situation due to the inevitable entertainment factor.